YouTube, celebs tackle bullies
2007-11-19 07:19
London - A host of celebrities posted messages on Monday on the video-sharing website YouTube in a bid to combat bullying.
Actor Patrick Stewart, Arsenal Football Club manager Arsene Wenger, athlete Kelly Holmes, model Penny Lancaster, rapper Sean Kingston and pop stars Ronan Keating, Beth Ditto, Girls Aloud and Danni Minogue were among the celebrities going online for the British-based Beatbullying campaign.
The site comes as more and more children say they are being bullied via the internet.
"Happy-slapping" - physical attacks recorded on cellphones and then circulated between handsets or online - is a growing phenomenon in Britain.
The Beatbullying charity's "channel" on YouTube is designed to help young people. They can share their experiences and advice, with the aim of creating the world's biggest anti-bullying drive.
Singer Kimberley Walsh from Girls Aloud said: "Happy-slapping may be funny to you, until it is a member of your family sitting at a bus stop being slapped.
"How would you feel if someone made a humiliating video of you or a member of your family and put it online for everyone to see?
"This year more than 20 people will take their own lives in the UK alone because of bullying. It's not funny."
Singer Ditto said: "Don't push people into lockers, that's not funny. It's totally boring and it's not creative and there's so much more to do in life."
BBC radio disc jockey Scott Mills told youngsters that videos circulated online may never be deleted from some websites. They were reminded that videos can be traced to the person who posted them.
Beatbullying director Sarah Dyer said: "The Beatbullying YouTube channel will revolutionise how young people access information on how to avoid being bullied and importantly on how to avoid being a bully.
"It is frighteningly easy for a young person who would never consider being a bully in real life, to do something online which they think is funny or humorous but in fact is a terrible act of bullying."
- AFP